Tag Archives: Cape Pond Ice

The Artemis, the derelict scalloper whose owner left a trail of woe and unpaid bills around Gloucester’s shoreside businesses, may soon be gone. But its saga could have the shelf life of a Norse legend. The 43-foot, steel-hulled vessel, which spent four months grounded on a Provincetown breakwater after being towed out of Gloucester, is tied up at a Provincetown pier, awaiting demolition. And Provincetown is paying the tab — estimated ultimately to cost about $39,000 — to haul the boat off the breakwater and cut it up. The town, according to local reports, has said it will try to recoup the costs of the salvage (about $30,000) and demolition (about $8,500) from vessel owner John Christiansen. Scott Memhard of Gloucester’s Cape Pond Ice on Monday basically said good luck with that. >click to read<21:40

The property that has for decades housed one of Gloucester’s iconic waterfront businesses is under new ownership. But the sale agreement for the Commercial Street property that has been home to Cape Pond Ice and its predecessors since 1848 will allow the business and its owner, Scott Memhard, to continue to operate and supply ice to Gloucester’s diminished fishing fleet. Cape Pond Realty Trust — headed by Richard W. Kohn, an accountant and real estate investor who has homes in Gloucester and Winchester — acquired the land and buildings at 104 and 106A Commercial St., according to a deal finalized late Tuesday and announced on behalf of Memhard by local attorney Meredith Fine. click here to read the story 08:08

The Cape Pond Ice property at 104 Commercial St. is back on the market. Almost four years after he first listed the property for sale, Cape Pond Ice President Scott Memhard has retained Nordlund Associates to market the approximately 41,000-square-foot property to potential buyers, with the intention of leasing back a portion to run a scaled-back ice manufacturing and delivery operation. The ice company, made famous in “The Perfect Storm” book by Sebastian Junger and the subsequent film of the same name, has seen its fortunes deteriorate along with those of the city’s once-mighty-but-now-dwindling commercial fishing fleet. The industry’s demise has slashed its demand for ice until it now represents only about 10 percent of the company’s overall sales. Read the rest here 19:44

In this, the summer of the 25th anniversary of the Perfect Storm that gave rise to Cape Pond Ice’s cult-like cache, the venerable ice making plant in Gloucester’s Fort neighborhood is being battered by its own series of man-made and natural forces. The 168-year-old company, the chief supplier of essential ice to what remains of Gloucester’s fishing fleet, as well as a host of other commercial customers, has been crippled by mechanical problems and last week’s historic run of record heat that has been anything but kind to the final product. The myriad problems besetting Cape Pond Ice are a startling reminder of how losing one link in the symbiotic chain connecting the fishing fleet with its shoreside infrastructure can upset the fragile balance that has come to define commercial fishing. They also are a reflection of the greatest fears of public officials and fishing stakeholders — that the continued demise of the commercial fishing industry is exerting escalating financial pressures on shoreside, fishing-related businesses that have long depended on the fleet. Read the story here 07:52

Celebrity NatGeo Skipper Dave Marciano of stopped by Cape Pond during our ENHA Trails & Sails Saturday morning tour, to sign autographs and settle up his ice bill. Read the rest here, and see the stunning ice sculptures from Cape Pond Ice! (The photo’s are much larger at the Good Morning Gloucester Blog!)20:21

This is symbolic posting of GDT. They have changed to a pay access venue. All historic material that we used to promote the industry is on lock down. More to follow.

There were so many times when it just seemed over, when the only remaining course of action left to Scott Memhard was to shut down the ice machines and tell the last cool guy or gal out the door to get the lights. Such was life at Cape Pond Ice withi http://www.gloucestertimes.com/ 14:31

The Cape Pond Ice property looks out onto Gloucester Harbor in two directions, affording owner Scott Memhard a panoramic view of the melting away of the Gloucester commercial fishing fleet during the past decade. Still, beyond the erosion of the city’s seminal industry, Memhard also sees the opportunity to recast his property into something more sustainable as the city and its shoreside marine businesses strive to transform the waterfront. [email protected]

Scott Memhard cited the decision by NOAA against allowing the industry a second year of relief via interim catch levels as forcing his hand. The first year of interim limits held the reduction in Gulf of Maine cod to only 22 percent but without the same for the 2013 fishing year beginning May 1, landings will be compressed by 77 percent. And with $1 million in debt coming due, Memhard said he has little choice. Read more

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here